A new Austrian research study has found that men who sleep with a partner are at risk of damaging their brains - at least in the short term. The studies lead researcher, Gehard Kloesch says that even without sex, sharing a bed can disturb sleep quality and cause a decline in cognitive ability the next day.
The team monitored eight unmarried, childless couples for 10 nights together and 10 nights apart.
They found that men and women reacted differently. While men who thought they would sleep better with a partner, didn’t. Women thought they would sleep better without someone else, actually did sleep better.
The study found that the lack of sleep for men increased their stress hormone levels, which reduced their ability to perform cognitive tests the following day.
Women apparently slept more deeply and did not react the same when sleep was disturbed.
Kloesch presented his work at a meeting of the Forum of European Neurosciences in Vienna last week.
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